July 3: Back to Yellowstone

July 3, 2013:  Back to Yellowstone

Last night, we decided to go on a game ride close to dusk.  We headed to the Oxbow Turn.  This is a U-turn in the Snake River surrounded by meadows.  As we drove up, we saw a beaver swimming.  When we got out of the truck, we saw some of the most plentiful Teton denizens of the evening... mosquitoes!  It was as if someone rang the dinner bell with our bare legs exposed.  Needless to say, we did not get a picture of the beaver as we were too busy swatting the critters on our legs.  We jumped back into the relative safety of the truck, killed a few stowaways, and continued to drive around.

We saw mule deer with racks that were in felt, we saw a calico colored fox.  It ran right by our car, into the street almost getting hit by another car.  The speed limit in the park is 45, but at night it really should be less.  They do that on the main highway outside the park (from 55 down to 45), but 45 is really too fast to be able to stop when the deer jumps across the street.  Fortunately for us, we were going slower...  We had to put the child lock on the back windows as Crew (O-Boy) kept opening his window  thinking that the mosquitoes would not come in a moving vehicle (they do).  Anybody want him?  He can be all yours for cheap... hell, why not for free!  As we drove back towards Hannah, a she-moose jumped across the street in front of us and disappeared.  Nice end to the evening!

 This morning, we decided to head back to Yellowstone to stop at some of the places we couldn't stop at the other day.  We did a 4 mile hike at Elephant Back, up near Fishing Bridge.  The hike goes through a pine forest up about 800 feet till you have a sweeping view of Yellowstone Lake.  We cruised around Yellowstone Lake some.  It is a huge lake and in the marina are some mighty big boats.  We went to the mud volcano and hiked around the boardwalk there.  As we were coming down, a buffalo came running across the boardwalk right in front of a man, then started rolling in the dirt.  The man just stood there as if a near miss with a charging bison is an everyday occurrence!  And Spouse, the photographer du jour, did not even think of getting the camera out!  As we continued the hike, another buffalo came into the parking lot and headed for us (slowly).  I went in front of him, Spouse and Crew stayed behind.  I think Crew would have been happy to run all the way back to the truck at this point!  This time, Spouse got some pix.

Yellowstone is very geo-thermal, and is on a volcano that is expected to erupt any minute.  Of course, that could be 10,000 years from now.  But the mud pools, geysers and other thermal cracks and pools are constantly changing.  At the mud volcano, there is a stand of trees that were there in the late '70's that are now gone, succumbing to the hot temperatures beneath the surface.

 We decided to head back, ran into one heck of a traffic jam due to a jack-knifed rig.  Waited that out then headed to Hannah and Rudy.

Rudy was full of piss and vinegar last night.  The vet said to keep in quiet... yeah right... He was attacking his mouse, the rugs, his shadow, his rat.  He was all sorts of active.  We had to give him a little more food as he was so obsessed with his bowl, and he kept it all down.  So today, things are back to normal with him.  When we got back, he was crashed out on the couch.  He reached out for us and purred.  Spouse went to take a nap and Rudy joined him.  By the way, the vet weighed him at 9.6 ounces.  After we put food down for him today, the little pig probably weighed 11 pounds and had a big hard belly!  In Yiddish, we would call him a 'chawser' (I don't know how to spell it, but the c is almost silent... ask a Jewish person, they will know!).